Reflections on the Hikam of Ibn ‘Ata’illah — from Shaykh Muhammad bin Yahya al-Ninowy
**Introduction: When spirituality becomes complicated
because we forgot the most obvious point**
Every seeker eventually hits a strange wall.
You study.
You practice.
You do your dhikr.
You polish your adab.
You try to rise.
You try to purify.
Yet something essential still feels… missing.
Shaykh Ninowy opens this particular session with a gentle nudge, almost like he’s telling us:
“You’ve complicated the path.
Let’s return to the beginning.”
Because at the foundation of Tazkiyah, there are only three realities:
- The human self (the nafs).
- The true Objective — Allah.
- The path that takes the self to its Objective.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
And the entire journey is simply learning how to move from the first to the second through the third.
The Shaykh repeats it bluntly:
“The human self is the axis of purification.”
You begin with yourself.
You end with Him.
And the middle is the journey.
1. The Human Being: Earthly Clay + Heavenly Soul
Ibn ‘Ata’illah begins by explaining the first reality:
the self you’re trying to purify.
Shaykh Ninowy describes humans as a fusion:
- an earthly component (clay)
- a heavenly component (the soul)
Then he says:
“The point is to become more heavenly than earthly.”
Not detached.
Not angelic.
Simply… oriented upward.
Because if your life is entirely earthward — absorbed in dunya, colorations, illusions — you sink.
If your life faces the soul, the unseen, the Rabbani layer… you rise.
And rising is the whole point of Tazkiyah.
2. The Objective: Who is “Who”?
The Shaykh pauses the entire lesson and asks:
“Who are you worshipping?”
The students respond:
“Allah.”
He repeats, softly:
“Seeing who?”
And he doesn’t let them answer superficially.
Because this question — who is who — is the entire foundation of Ihsan.
The Prophet ﷺ defined Ihsan as:
“Worship Allah as if you are seeing Him.”
But Shaykh Ninowy pushes the question deeper:
- Are you seeing your deeds?
- Are you seeing your servitude?
- Are you seeing your culture, color, identity, community?
- Are you seeing the worship itself?
- Or are you seeing Him?
If the worship makes you see yourself, you are still veiled.
If the worship makes you see Him, you have stepped into the realm of Ihsan.
This is the difference between:
- talwīn (coloration — being distracted by appearances), and
- tamkīn (establishment — being anchored in truth).
Ihsan is witnessing Him beyond all colorations.
This is when “you we worship” (iyyāka na‘bud) becomes real.
**3. Iyyāka Na‘bud:
The entire path of Tazkiyah in one statement**
The Shaykh calls this verse the axis of all Tazkiyah.
“Iyyāka na‘bud” means:
You we worship — excluding everything else.”
This exclusion is the essence of ikhlas:
- no ego
- no identity
- no worldly motivations
- no audience
- no image
- no self-witnessing
Just Him.
Then comes:
“Wa iyyāka nasta‘īn
— and You we seek help from.”
Meaning:
Even the worship is not “yours.”
Even the sincerity is not “yours.”
Even the ability to say iyyāka is not “yours.”
He gave you the deed,
He gave you the breath,
He gave you the moment,
He gave you the longing.
Your role is to witness Him giving — not yourself doing.
4. Bismillah: Living entirely in His Name
Shaykh Ninowy ties it all together with the opening of the Qur’an:
“Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm
—in Your name, the unconditionally loving, I begin.”
He explains:
When you say “Bismillah,” you are saying:
- in Your name I move
- in Your name I rest
- in Your name I speak
- in Your name I sleep
- in Your name I learn
- in Your name I live
- in Your name I die
- in Your name I rise again
This is not poetic.
It is ihsan in practice.
It is living with the awareness of Him in every breath.
It is what turns the earthly self into a Rabbani self.
5. The Path: From creation (al-kawn) to the Creator (al-Mūkawwin)
Shaykh Ninowy says:
“The whole path is moving from the creation to the Creator.”
From:
- the visible to the Invisible
- the temporal to the Eternal
- the colored world (talwīn) to the Real (tamkīn)
- distractions to Presence
- identity to servanthood
- ego to annihilation
This journey is called wusool — arrival.
Not physical arrival.
Arrival of the heart.
Arrival into witnessing.
Arrival into nearness.
Arrival into living every moment with Him.
**6. Love and Suhbah:
The souls that irrigate each other**
One of the most beautiful sections of the talk is when the Shaykh speaks about suhbah — spiritual companionship.
He quotes the classical masters:
“The sweetness of life is in the company of the fuqara.”
Not “the poor” in the worldly sense.
But:
Those who have realized their neediness of Allah.
Why is their company so sweet?
Because:
- their hearts irrigate yours
- their presence reminds you of Allah
- their gaze pulls you upward
- their adab teaches you how to see
- their gentleness dissolves your hardness
- their silence speaks
- their humility purifies
- their love lifts you
Shaykh Ninowy describes this love with beauty:
“Souls are irrigated by the water of love.”
When the veil of clay is removed,
souls fly in the sky of ma‘rifah together.
This is why companionship with the people of Allah is transformative — even if you don’t understand how.
**7. Lessons from Karbala:
Why the people of Allah don’t run from truth**
Shaykh Ninowy weaves in a powerful reflection on Imam al-Husayn عليه السلام.
He explains that those who remained with Husayn were elevated not by politics, not by conflict, but by suhbah — companionship with a heart illuminated by Allah.
They stayed with him because:
- his presence elevated theirs
- their souls recognized truth
- love removed the fear of death
This is suhbah at its highest form.
It transforms clay into light.
8. The Real Danger: Forgetting Allah and then forgetting yourself
One of the most striking Qur’anic insights in this session is:
“They forgot Allah,
so He made them forget themselves.”
(Qur’an 59:19)
This is a terrifying reality.
When you forget Him:
- you lose your real identity
- you lose your direction
- you lose your inner compass
You begin to live a life that is not yours.
You chase things that harm you.
You adopt illusions as truth.
Spiritual forgetfulness leads to existential forgetfulness.
Tazkiyah is simply remembering Him long enough
that you remember yourself again.
9. Adab: The signature of those close to Allah
The Shaykh ends with a long section on adab, because adab is the fragrance of spirituality.
He quotes:
“When you sit with the people of Allah, watch your heart.”
You learn:
- humility before wisdom
- silence before presence
- refinement before expression
- self-erasure before self-assertion
And he quotes the classical teachers:
“Lower your head and seek forgiveness without reason.”
Why?
Because this purifies the heart from subtle arrogance and prepares it for divine light.
Adab is not etiquette.
Adab is spiritual intelligence.
**Conclusion:
The Path Is Simple — You made it complicated**
At the end of the talk, Shaykh Ninowy gives the entire path in one sentence:
“This whole journey is to move from creation to the Creator.”
From “I” to “You.”
From “me” to “Him.”
From “I worship” to “You we worship.”
From “I see” to “I see You.”
And once you arrive at witnessing:
- every breath is worship
- every moment is nearness
- every step is in His name
- every state is illuminated
The journey is not long.
It is only deep.
And the depth is simply this:
Stop seeing yourself.
Start seeing Him.